Once Upon a Midnight Clearing
by Elemental Homunculi
Summary: Yoko Kurama and Hiei have been separated for centuries. And as Yoko sits day and night by his tower window, wishing for Hiei, Hiei wanders around trying to forget Yoko. It's through Hiei's sister that Hiei decide it's time to go home.


It was a dark and stormy day in Makkai around the castle, where Yoko is perched in the highest room of the tallest tower, awaiting the return of his long lost love. Oh how he missed the black locks belonging to his love. His eyes search the forests and with every passing second his heart dies a little more.

His love had disappeared centuries before but he never gave up. Hi knows his love will return for him someday. And so, he waits, alone, his only light coming from the outside world of which he had cast aside.

Suddenly, a rustling from below Yoko's eyes widen and his heart beats rapidly. Suddenly, out of the bushes blast a flock of Makkai birds. Yoko's heart breaks once again.

A bright light shines from within the castle right behind Yoko, but he does not turn.

"Still crying, Yoko?"

Yoko does not respond to the bubbly voice behind him belonging to Botan, the Grim Reaper. Lightning crackles outsides and his ears twitch.

"I've brought some Ningens for you to meet."

Yoko doesn't move his focus on the trees bellow where his true love was sure to turn up.

"Yoko, these are Reikai's new Spirit Detectives, Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara."

Yoko can sense two others in the room, but he does not budge.

"I'll leave the three of you alone to get to know one another."

Another flask of light and Botan is gone. The two Ningens remain silent for a moment and an uneasy tenseness fills the room.

"Hey man, what's your problem?" Yusuke asks as he grips Yoko by the collar of his shirt.

Yoko's eyes remain on the deep dual forest in search for his lover.

"I'm talking to you! Don't you dare ignore me! That really pisses me off!" Yusuke shouts as he pulls his fist back.

Yoko calmly steps to his right, still not turning around, and allows Yusuke's fist to pass his face.

"I suggest you stop while you're ahead." He tells the Spirit Detective calmly.

"Like I'm going to listen to someone who's been crying for centuries!" Yusuke replies angrily.

_I must remember to kill Botan, the next time I see her!_ Yoko thinks as he continues to dodge Yusuke's fists.

After several minutes, Yoko realizes that the NIngen will no give in, and sighs reluctantly.

"You are going to regret attacking me," he tells Yusuke wryly as he finally turns around to face his opponent.

"Haha! You look like a girl!" Kuwabara declares as he being to laugh endlessly.

Yoko's calm demeanor finally fads and he reaches a hand to his elegant silver hair angrily. Much to Kuwabara and Yusuke's surprise he pulls his hand away, a red rose coming with it.

"Like that's going to hurt us!" the two Spirit Detectives laugh.

"Rose Whip!" Yoko snaps

The rose instantly turns into a dangerous-looking whip with rose thorns along the edges. He swings it in wide arch, much to fast for the Detectives to avoid. It makes a solid impact, and the two are instantly knocked out as it had hit several places at once, overwhelming the two with pain.

"Botan!" Yoko screams.

"What is it?" the Grim Reaper asks with an annoyed tone as she appears with flash of bright light.

"Take them away!"

She sighs as she looks upon her tow new colleagues. With another flash of light, the three are gone.

There was then, a noise at the window, and Yoko whirled around.

"Hiei!" he exclaims as he catches sight of the fire demon leaning against the window frame.

"Hey," he states still leaning on the frame of the window. "Long time no see. Guess you've been busy."

Hiei looks around the room, then resting on Yoko's face, seeing the redness from crying.

"Hiei," Yoko sighs out as he walks towards Hiei. "You're here; I've been waiting in this room for so long. I knew you'd come back."  
"What made you think I would come back?" Hiei asks, moving away before Yoko's hands could touch him and make him remember what he'd so long forced away; his feelings. "I've been gone for over two-hundred years. You couldn't have lasted that ling, waiting so patiently for me for two centuries, you would have died."

Yoko walks to the bed and sits down on the edge. "I suppose I would have died, if I didn't believe you would come back again. But, I did believe, you'd come back in you own time, Hiei. You're like that; taking off before you admit your feelings. Turning away from me and running further each time you come close to admitting those feelings."

He stops and stares at the figure who was once his lover in life, but would always be his one true love; whether or not Hiei would ever return his love or leave again.

"But, you see, Hiei," Yoko continues as he stands up and walks towards Hiei, still looming in a dark corner in the room, "no matter how far you run, no matter how hard you try to hide, you'll always come back, and I'll always be waiting."

"You, don't know nothing of my feelings. You can wait here and rot until you die, for all I care."

"No!"

Yoko shoots up in a cold sweat to find himself in his bed with an ice pack galling into his lap.

"Well, it's about time you woke up," Yusuke's voice taunts.

"You've been out for a few hours," Kuwabara smiles cheesily

"Has he come by?" is the first thing Yoko asks

"Who?"

"Apparently not,"Yoko sighs a sad sigh. _Oh when will my love return for me? How I've longed to feel his breath on me ear_"Oh my love, where have you gone to?Whatever will I do without you?" Yusuke taunts.

"I need you. Come back. Hold me. Love me. Call me your fox," Kuwabara continues.

"Do me! I need to feel you!" Yusuke teases. "Well, what are we waiting for? Our new friend needs to get laid."

"So let's go find him a pretty girl," Kuwabara suggests.

"Nah, man, Yoko here isn't like that," Yusuke gets a devious look on his face.

"Oh, I get ya," Kuwabara nods.

"Come into me arms, honey," Yusuke coos softly as he leans in closer to Yoko.

"Kazuma-Bear will make you feel all better," Kuwabara says, crawling across the bed.

Yoko jumps up and runs quickly across the room.

"Only my love is allowed to get anywhere near me!" he mumbles dramatically.

Yusuke and Kuwabara crash into each other, Yusuke landing in his boyfriend's lap, staring at Yoko, they begin to laugh endlessly.

"You are such a girl!" Yusuke giggles

"Just like you," Kuwabara says lovingly as he gazes into his lovers eyes.

"Get a room!" Yoko screams

"But, we are," Yusuke say dazedly.

"Just not in mine!"

With Yukina and Hiei

Yukina is in a wide open field picking gorgeous, coloring flowers as she sings with birds flying overhead.

"I suppose you would have come sooner or later Hiei," Yukina states, as she cupped the flowers in her hands. And walked deeper into the forest that surrounded a white covered field and sky.

"How did you know it was me?" Hiei asked walking closer to his sister, and leaning against tree.

"You are my brother, how could I not sense your presence." She replied stopping beside another patch of wildflowers and feeding the birds with pieces of bread from her pocket, "and because I could feel your confusion and pain." She stopped and sat down on a nearby bench and patted the empty space next to her for Hiei to sit.

"How have you been?" she asked when he sat down and faced the woods and far away with his jagon eye.

"Hmn. You?" he replies with a shrug of the shoulders.

"I've been fine. Life here goes on, no matter what happens to the outside world. I suppose nothing affects us. Neither pain nor suffering. I've come to realize we may not even feel love, in the way one feels for another." She cocked her head and stared at her brother. Looking for any signs of reaction to her observations, and saw change in his eyes.

"I haven't seen Yoko for awhile. Though I suppose that two centuries is not so long for a makkai like Yoko. Don't you agree Hiei?" He nodded but continued to look at nothing, or something that she couldn't see.

"Maybe he's found someone to make him happy. The past years he's been so miserable, I've wondered what could make him feel like that, he was always so adventurous; going on adventures, seeking treasure. No all he does is sit that drafty tower. Botan and others have tried to get him out, but he says the same thing every time, 'I can't leave, I have to stay, I have to see him.' And he would back, looking out the window," Yukina was watching Hiei again, he didn't show it, but she could tell that he was hurting, and she was upset with herself that she couldn't help him, but would figure out his feelings for himself when the time came.

"You know, if Yoko's love ever would return he would be happy again? But I guess his love left, for his or her own reasons. And, maybe, just maybe he or she left because; he or she felt the same way Yoko feels for him or her. What do you think Hiei?' she asked, looking over a group of birds, eating the food she left before.

Hiei gave an inaudible response, that Yukina barely heard, "And it was scary to realize that he or she felt something that they had dedicated their entire lives to destroy. But, he or she must also realize that in life, things are meant to happen, and if he would just accept the fact that love was meant to be a gift even if it isn't meant to last. And that there is the kind of love that lasts through centuries and outlives time itself. He should be glad that it happened to him, because, that that kind of love doesn't happen to everyone. So, if Yoko's love were ever to return, he might just finally understand, what love is supposed to be. Don't you agree Hiei?" she finished and looked over to Hiei, to find he was gone. And in his place was a red rose ( Note… where he got the rose, no one knows, its just one of those things.)

"Good luck Hiei" and she picked up the rose and placed it in the middle of her bouquet and headed back to her village.

**With Yoko**

Yoko had finally managed to get Yusuke and Kuwabara into another room, after he pried them off of each other before they went any further than he cared to experience.

He remade his bed, and set out to complete his evening vespers; lighting the white and red candles that surrounded his room, before he would turn out the lights. When he finished he looked out the window and saw the cloudless night and the millions of stars that shone brightly in the sea of darkness, and for a second he wished upon a shooting star the Hiei would come back.

When he was getting ready to go to bed, a gush of wind blew through the closed shutters and extinguished the lit candles, undisturbed, Yoko relit the candles and closed the opened shutters.

"You know if you close them, no one can get in," a voice stated from one of the darkened corners of the room to Yoko's back that had him freezing in his steps.

_It's no true. I can't be true. It's just my imagination. It's not him. I can't… no won't believe it. _

"Hiei," he asked cautiously as he turned to the voice. His heart pounding against the wall of his chest, his mouth dry, his hands covered in sweat. He dreamed of this moment in his dreams, knew exactly what he was going to say when he saw him. But, now, his dream a reality, he couldn't think of anything to say, his mind was blank.

"The one and only," the voice stated proudly as he walked out from the shadows and the candle light hit his face. And Yoko sank to the floor, staring at him

_Oh my god. It's him. It's really him; pinch me I must be dreaming. Look at him. Just like he did all those centuries ago, same sarcastic attitude, same hair, the same body language. And oh have I missed that body on top of mine, the feel toned muscles. Look he has the same eyes, no not quite the same, they're different. Somehow they seem kinder than before. Kinder? Hiei? They wouldn't normally go well together, but somehow, now, it does. _

"I…its you."

Hiei sat down in one of Yoko's Victorian chairs, "Yeah, it's me, but I really didn't expect this kind or welcoming after so long:" he said nodding his head back and forth, " Falling to the floor now Yoko? How unbecoming for a Kitsune like yourself. I would have expected better."

Yoko got up on his feet and walked over to bed and stared out the window, "What are you doing back here Hiei," he asked quietly

"Nothing really, just stopped in for a visit. But, if I'm not welcome, then I guess I'll just leave then," he stood up and walked towards the window, blocking Yoko's view of the forest.

"Wait," Yoko shouted as Hiei was jumping out the window, Yoko grabbed Hiei's sleeve and held on tightly, his face in the material, "don't leave. Not yet."

Hiei sighed and turned around and walked back to the chair. "So, how's life been for you?"

Yoko starred, jaw dropped to the floor, and his eyes wide open in disbelief, "you can't be serious? How have _I_ been? Well, you left me waiting for, two and a half centuries, for you to come back, does that say anything? But here you are asking how I've been." Yoko stopped, and looked up at Hiei, "so why are you back? What's here for you any way?"

Hiei mumbled something unintelligible, and shifted some in his chair.

"What? Say it again. I couldn't hear you," Yoko said as he strained to hear what Hiei had said, a smile tugging the sides of his mouth.

"I said 'you'," Hiei shouted, shooting up from the chair to start pacing back and forth in front of the window.

Yoko starred at the pacing figure and shared a private smile, "oh."

Hiei stopped and turned his gaze to Yoko, "oh? Is that all you have to say, 'oh'," Hiei threw up his hands in defeat, "why the hell did I even come back? He doesn't love me anymore. Yukina lied. I hate liars," he said, mostly to himself.

Yoko smiled. _So he does love me. Oh Hiei._ Yoko got up and went to Hiei's side at the window

"Do you know how long it's been since I've last seen you," he asked as he stared out the window, crows flying over head in the night sky. " Two and a half centuries. Its been that long. And all during those years, I stayed right here in this room, looking out this window, watching for your return. Boton kept coming here, hoping to lure me out back into the world or this living and not this wasted existence where no one existed but you and me. I could tell you that I gave up on you ever coming back to me, but I never did." Yoko stopped and turned to face Hiei placing his hands on his shoulders and forcing him to look at him. " Because, no matter how long you're away from me, I'll always know that'll you'll come back. You have to know by now Hiei that I'll always love you, you are the only one for me and I accept the fact that you can't love as easily as I can, but know that I'll say it and give it to you, until you can say it as easily as me. I love you, and it will never change."

Yoko stopped and stared into his love's eyes, as they moistened and soften. _This is the man I love_, Yoko thought to himself, _who would have guessed that I would fall for a guy like this. But I guess you can't help you fall in love with. _

Hiei pulled back from Yoko's grasp and backed away from him shacking his head slowly, "no" he said, " I don't accept that. How can you say you love me? It's not that simple. You know nothing about me! Nothing."

"Nothingever simple my love, it rarely is. But I know everything about you, and the things that I do not know, you'll tell me when you're ready to give it to me. All I need is you and you alone, anything about your past, is the past; it has nothing to do with now and how we feel about each other. And before you say you don't love me," he said as Hiei was about to speak, "You might want to look deep down inside of yourself, and look in your heart you've buried so deep underneath your hatred. Give me your heart Hiei, I promise never to hurt it."

Hiei glared at Yoko, confusion and rage swirling in his eyes. _Can I trust him? Can I trust myself? Love, what does it feel like I wonder? Who cares it's a weakness that destroys everyone. I can protect myself from it, by not feeling it. How is it that he can feel so comfortable with it? The greatest kitsune of all time, infected with an vial emotion. It will never work, I'll only hurt him more by staying, he's probably better off by his self alone. But can I forget him? It didn't work this time when I left, I thought of him everyday. Look at him he's starved himself, and he looks like hell. And yet he still has the strength to convince me that we belong together._ " I…" he started, " I don't know if this is going to work out they way you have planned Yoko. I'm not the makai you think I am, I don't like being tied down."

Yoko smiled inside, " And you think I do?"

" I'm a slob."

" I'm not, we'll figure it out," Yoko answered walking slowing over to Hiei.

" What if I told you I hated foxes and their sly being?"

Yoko stopped and starred, "what would you rather have me be? A bunny rabbit perhaps," he asked casually as he stepped up in front of Hiei and framed his hands around his face, stroking his thumbs on Hiei's cheeks, causing him to close his eyes.

"No," Hiei mumbled softly against Yoko's mouth when he pressed them against his, " I don't want you to be anyone other than you."

Yoko smiled and took the kiss deeper, taking what he wanted without any care if he hurt Hiei. He wanted. Yoko pulled away and looked at Hiei's face for just and instant before he kissed Hiei again nipping him slightly on his mouth, causing Hiei to take the quick intake of breathYoko needed as his tongue invaded Hiei's mouth, massaging Hiei's tongue with his. With his hands fastened on Yoko's shirt, Hiei was slave to Yoko's advancements, and didn't do anything when Yoko tore his shirt open, and his hands roamed his chest, and his mouth raced across his face.

When Yoko drew back, he waited until Hiei opened his eyes, "do you trust me," he asked.

Hiei nodded, "and do you trust me," he also asked, and Yoko nodded, before Yoko grabbed him by the waist and laid him on the bed, and he laid himself between his spread legs.

"I love you Hiei," Yoko whispered in Hiei's ear, and kissed him, before he drew away and flipped Hiei on his back and slipped inside.

The moon shone through the window, illuminating the two bodies withering on the silk sheets, both knew that they'd never be alone again.

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Yo, yo, yo, this is Pyro. Just wanted to say thanks for reading. Along with the help of Darkness and Light, this is my first official yoai. And if you could review, I would sincerely appreciate the feed back. Tell me anything you want. Oh, and if there are major mistakes in grammar or mechanics I missed, this didn't go through the beta process, but if its atrocious then I'll put it through and clean it up. Thank you again. 


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